1. Field
The following description relates to a method and an apparatus for obtaining a location of a user.
2. Description of Related Art
With an increase in use of smart phones, location estimation technology for providing a location-based service (LBS) has been used in various fields. Location estimation technology using a global positioning system (GPS) and map information, such as contour information, latitude and longitude information, and other map information, about an outdoor environment may be employed in the outdoor environment. On the other hand, even though a variety of location estimation technologies may be employed in an indoor environment, there is no particular technology having an excellent performance in the indoor environment, and accordingly a suitable technology may be selected and used based on particular circumstances in the indoor environment.
In general, in the case of location estimation technology using a fingerprint map, the positioning result measured using a fingerprint map may vary slightly based on an environment such as an installation circumstance of infrastructure, structures, and other factors. Accordingly, locations of feature points may differ between a wireless local area network (WLAN) fingerprint map and a magnetic fingerprint map. Furthermore, there may be a plurality of feature points having similar patterns. In this case, a relatively large amount of time may be required to obtain an initial location of a user.